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flour

One of my favorite things to do is cook. I find that it helps me exercise my creative side and allows me to try new things. I like the fact that I reap all the benefits of what I sew and can also share if I feel like it. Since I’ve been on this journey for a while now, I have gotten much more adventurous in my efforts to provide something delicious and nourishing to eat.

In this blog, I am going to incorporate recipes that use varieties of flour that you may not have heard of. Since people who are allergic to gluten can’t eat wheat, alternative types of flour are necessary so they can still have the foods they enjoy.

Almond Flour

The first flour I am going to introduce is almond flour. Since it’s highly nutritious, easy to use, and readily available, almond flour is a good alternative choice to all purpose… especially if you’re health conscious. Also, if you’re on a budget, avoid purchasing it in store and buy online instead. The brands I recommend are Honeyville, JK Gourmet, Lucy’s Kitchen Shop, and nuts.com. Note: Stay away from Bob’s Red Mill. This flour tends to leave food runny and messy.

Chocolate chip almond flour cookies

Ingredients:

¼ Cup brown sugar, light or dark

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

2 tbsp butter at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

2 cups almond flour

½ cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment

Mix vanilla, egg, and almond flour, stirring to combine. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then mix for 1 minute at max speed.

Stir in chocolate chips

Scoop the dough one level teaspoon at a time onto the prepared baking sheet. A tbsp. cookie scoop works well too.

Gently flatten cookies to about ½ inch thick

Bake cookies for 9-12 minutes until they are golden brown.

Remove the cookies from the oven. Allow them to cool on the pan.

Pecan Flour

Another nut flour that’s good to use is pecan flour. Since pecans are less expensive than almonds, it’s a good competitor. I’m going to give 2 recipes that you may find interesting.

Pecan Crust

This first pecan flour recipe is a pecan crust recipe that you can use with pies. Blueberry, pumpkin, and cheesecake are delicious with this crust.

Ingredients

2 ½ C pecan flour

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 c white sugar

4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Stir together ground nuts, cinnamon, and sugar. Mix in melted butter.

Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch deep dish style pie pan. Chill the unbaked crust in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.

Place crust on a cookie sheet and position on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Note: Watch carefully! Nut crusts burn easily; they don’t have to turn black to taste burnt. Cool completely before filling.

Carrot Cake

This recipe takes a spin on a good classic.

Ingredients

3 c pecan flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

5 large eggs

½ c honey or agave nectar

¼ c coconut oil, melted

3 c carrots, grated

1 c raisins

1 c walnuts

Cream cheese icing

Directions

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In separate bowl, mix together eggs, agave/honey, oil.

Stir carrots, raisins and walnuts into wet ingredients.

Stir wet ingredients into dry.

Transfer batter to 2 well-greased 9 inch cake pans

Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes.

Cool cake for 3 hours then remove from pan.

Ice with cream cheese icing and serve.

Vegetable flours are used in a variety of foods… for humans and our pets! The next recipe I am going to talk about is one that I absolutely love to make for Clark, my cat. He loves it too!

Dry cat food

This recipe calls for pea flour. You can buy it online or make it yourself from dried peas. All you have to do is grind the dried peas in a food processor until it’s a soft, fine substance. That’s all!

Ingredients

1 c cornmeal

2 c pea flour

3 c whole wheat flour

1 c wheat germ

1 can salmon with no bones

5 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp cod liver oil

1 c fat free milk powder

½ C Brewers yeast

2 C water

Directions

In a medium sized bowl, take the fish, oil, and water and mash it all together. Then, in a large bowl, mix all the other ingredients together. Next, mix both bowls together evenly. Make the dough by mixing it by hand and roll it to a thickness of about ¼ inch diameter. Use a knife to cut small ¼ inch pieces. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put the bits onto a greased baking sheet; put into oven. Bak for 20-25 minutes while tossing around the bits so they brown evenly from all sides. Let the bits cool completely before removing from the oven. Refrigerate the kibble by transferring them to an airtight container. It won’t spoil for a long period of time.

Coconut flour

Coconut flour is surely growing in popularity as more people are using it for it’s many health benefits. It’s delicious, gluten free, and a healthy alternative to other flours. Try using it in this next recipe I have typed for you below.

Coconut Flour Brownies

Ingredients

½ C plus 2 tbsp coconut oil

¼ C cocoa powder

3 large eggs

½ C plus 2 tbsp honey or agave nectar

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ C minus 1 tbsp coconut flour

½ tsp salt

1/3 C chopped walnuts (optional)

1/3 C mini chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 inch glass baking pan.

Melt coconut oil. In large bowl, combine cocoa powder, and melted coconut oil, and eggs with an electric mixer until combined. Add in honey (or agave) and vanilla extract. Mix again. Add in coconut flour and salt and mix again until batter is combined.

Fold in nuts and chocolate chips. Spread evenly into prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool and serve.

I hope this motivates you to get a little creative in the kitchen. We are not all made the same way, therefore we should try varieties of foods to find what we truly enjoy. Good luck!